PTSD: National Center for PTSD

Rachel Zelkowitz, PhD

Clinical Research Psychologist

Women's Health Sciences Division

Email: Rachel.Zelkowitz@va.gov

Academic Appointment

• Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Education

• Boston University School of Medicine, Teaching Fellowship and VA Boston Healthcare System, Advanced Fellowship in Women's Health, Clinical Psychology
• Vanderbilt University, Clinical Psychological Sciences (Quantitative Methods Minor) PhD
• Duke University Medical Center, Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology

Expertise and Interests

• Risky/impulsive behaviors in women Veterans (e.g., self-directed violence, disordered eating)
• Sex differences in the comorbidity of PTSD and self-directed violence
• Negative self-evaluation and emotion dysregulation as transdiagnostic processes
• Applying network analysis and ecological momentary assessment to personalized trauma-focused care

Featured Publications

Zelkowitz, R. L., Knutson, E. K., Kehle-Forbes, S., Smith, B. N., & Mitchell, K. S. (2025). Associations of self-directed violence among traumatic stress correlates: Network analysis and comparison in veteran men and women. Journal of Affective Disorders, 391, 120017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.120017 PTSDpubs id1652833 (PDF)

Rønning, L., Zelkowitz, R. L., Piccirillo, M. L., Liu, J., Thomas, J. L., Guler, J., Kyei, J. J., Hoeboer, C. M., Karchoud, J. F., Olff, M., Witteveen, A. B., & van Zuiden, M. (2025). Gender differences in early posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms: A network analysis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1), 2448385. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2448385 PTSDpubs id1643836 (PDF)

Zelkowitz, R. L., Livingston, W. S., Knutson, E. K., Kehle-Forbes, S., Vogt, D. S., Smith, B. N., & Mitchell, K. S. (2024). Associations of military sexual harassment and assault with nonsuicidal self-injury: Examining gender and sexual orientation as moderators. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 180, 243-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.10.015 PTSDpubs id1640368 (PDF)

Zelkowitz, R. L., Sienkiewicz, M.E., Smith, B.N., Vogt, D.S., & Mitchell, K.S. (2023). Gender differences in direct and indirect associations of trauma types with disordered eating in a national US veteran sample. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 15(8), 1280-1287. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001353 PTSDpubs id1599617 (PDF)

Zelkowitz, R. L., & Cole, D. A. (2019). Self-criticism as a transdiagnostic process in nonsuicidal self-injury and disordered eating: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 49(1), 310-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12436

Find a full list of my publications on Orcid.

Key Projects

• VA Career Development Award (IK2CX002439) Psychological Drivers of Self-Destructive Behaviors in PTSD Major Goals: Use ecological momentary assessment and network analyses to examine dynamic associations of PTSD symptoms and self-directed violence among men and women Veterans. Assess women Veterans’ and providers’ views of the pros and cons of real-time symptom monitoring within trauma-focused care.
• Associate editor for NCPTSD Clinician’s Trauma Update

Membership in Professional Societies

• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Trauma and Self-Directed Violence Special Interest Group founding co-chair
• Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies

Awards and Honors

• Research Training Day Travel Award, Military Suicide Research Consortium, 2022
• Karen Wells Professionalism Award, Duke University Medical Center, 2019
• Julius Seeman Award, Department of Psychology & Human Development, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, 2016

Members of the press interested in scheduling an interview please see the contact for the media page.